War

Chapter 18

The smell of blood followed by shouts of alarm caused Raptor to race out to the main room. She was just in time to see Pietro stumble and collapse to the ground. Fear chilled her as she got closer and saw the multitudes of bullet wounds and long scratches all over his body.

"Everybody get back." Tony took control of the situation and looked over at an extremely confused Natasha Romanoff. "What happened?"

"Ultron happened- we were fighting him and his army. Pietro was attacked as whatever just happened, happened."

"Banner's not here right now but I think I can save him- looks like some of these are splices from the time travel."

"You better." Raptor didn't speak up, not wanting to start a fight when Pietro's life was hanging in the balance. "This is your fault, Stark."

The metal device on the ground sparked and she growled as pain shot through her head.

Searching for signal.

Signal found.

Reconnecting...

Connected.

"Stark, what's happening?" Steve shouted to the man as he carried Pietro to the lab.

Tony turned and paled as he saw the portal opening once more. "Something else is coming through, shut it down!"

It was too late. A scaley and metallic snout appeared followed by sharp metal claws. Two more figures followed behind it, forcing themselves through the unstable connection. Raptor couldn't believe what she was seeing and her head pounded as the chip in her skull reactivated from its dormant state.

The three cyborg creations went straight for Natasha and Tony, or rather the man Tony was dragging. Raptor stumbled as she shifted forms and snarled at the trio, cutting off their path; they might've been her pack in the past but she wasn't about to let them attack her mate.

Each of them screeched and skidded to a halt in surprise. A jumble of confused messages were going through the chip in her head, only serving to make the headache grow.

Stop! A roar emphasized her order and the three fell still, huddling down as if in fear of her.

"Raptor, can you get them out of here?" Steve cautiously moved over to Nat, as if prepared to fist fight the three if they attacked again.

"Get them out? Let's scrap them." The sentient raccoon-like creature walked closer. "Look at those things! Oh, I'd love to get my hands on those parts."

Raptor gave a small growl in Rocket's direction. He might be on their side, but she still thought he looked more like prey more than anything else. She wasn't above trying to eat him if he got on her nerves.

"What?" He looked up at her before turning away. "Suit yourselves- get eaten."

Under his breath, she could make out one last comment before he went back to perfecting Tony's final Time-Space GPS. "Quill would've loved this."

"Keep them contained somewhere, we'll figure out what to do about them later." Steve ordered. "Nat, come with me, there's a lot we need to catch up on and not a lot of time."

Raptor hunched over as they went back to work and turned to examine the three figures before her. They looked just like she'd remembered but... only two had made it to the final battle at Sokovia- Omega and Sigma. Yet Delta was with them this time.

"Did Pietro change the past this much? Is it going to change the present" She shook her head, too drained from recent stress and now her migraine to think deeply on it.

Follow. The order was followed, as if years hadn't gone by and she wasn't the same as the one they'd known minutes before.

"They can't be the same three... Why would I ever order them to attack Pietro?" Concern for him continued to grow the further she walked in the opposite direction. "He looked like he was dead..."

She didn't know what to do if Pietro died. Get revenge and kill something Stark loved? It wouldn't bring him back but it would make her feel better. He would never know the truth behind her recent 'weakness' and know she was fine. Raptor paced outside, unhappily watching the three cyborgs in front of her when she'd rather be at Pietro's side.